The Mystery Chick
by Daisuke
Summary: Jake is a Police Officer and when Daria is a child, he gives her A study in Scarlet instead of Black Beauty. He never imagined what he had created.
1. Chapter 1

Charcters from "Daria" belong to MTV.  
Concepts and situations from this chapter are from "Hermanos & Detectives" which belongs to Telefé.

The Mystery Chick

Part 1: The Mystery Chick emerges

Jake Morgendorffer stood for a couple of minutes in front of the door to the local bookstore. He sighed as he decided that it was indeed a book the best gift he could give his eldest daughter. He forced a smile and opened the door.

One of the employees of the bookstore approached. "Officer, is there some kind of problem?" She was a woman in his late twenties.

He took his hat away and smiled at the woman. "None that I'm aware, I'm here on a personal matter, you know, bright daughter needs a book."

The woman's face suddenly grew and a grin replaced the concerned look. "Oh, how old is she?"

"Five, but I can already tell that she's smarter than me" he assured her with a smirk.

She took a book, handed it to him and said, "well, 'Black Beauty' is a good selection"

Jake looked at the book's cover and frowned. "I wanted a horse as a kid, but the old man said that horses were for girls! Stupid Mad Dog…" he seemed to realize that he was about to go into full rant mode and stopped himself. He shook his head. "I think Daria would find it a little bland, she likes when I talk about my work at dinner."

The woman frowned as he handed 'Black Beauty' back to her. "A mystery novel? You say she's smart… maybe she will like Nancy Drew."

He scowled at the name. "Nancy Drew? I was thinking something, like, Sherlock Holmes. He was a good cop."

The woman scowled at him. "Sherlock Holmes wasn't a cop, he was a detective. And I think that a five year old won't be able to appreciate that kind of literature."

He raised an eyebrow and said, "are you saying that my little girl is stupid or something? I will tell you that she's the smartest kid in her whole class, no! Her whole school!"

"Ok, ok… If that's what you want…" the woman didn't seem convinced but gave him 'A Study in Scarlet' despite what she thought.

Jake smiled as he read the title of the book. "Now we're talking about. She will love this!"

---------

And love it she did.

In fact, Daria enjoyed Sherlock Holmes' first story so much that in the next few months, she asked her father for more of the world's best detective's stories. In less than a year she had already read every single canon Sherlock Holmes story. So instead, Jake started bringing her some Agatha Christie's works, which she also loved.

By age ten, Daria was familiar with many fictional detectives such as Poirot, Miss Marple, Ellery Queen, Philip Marlowe, Auguste Dupin, Kogoro Akechi and many more. And by that age she dreamed of solving cases as the detectives in the novels her father gave her.

Helen was always concerned about Daria not having any friends, but Jake didn't mind as much. Daria considered her book benefactor to be her best friend, or maybe second only to the books themselves.

---------

And so, when she was only ten (almost eleven, actually) the world met her for the first time. The press dubbed her "The Mistery Chick".

It started one morning in a dark and solitary basement. A man was studying dates and testing small explosives. With a pair of gloves, he carefully took a gun and put it in a bag. He tested a magnet with some nails and after cleaning it, it too was put into the bag. He smiled as he looked at the computer screen in front of him.

The title 'In the name of the father' was written and a name bellow it mortified him. 'Paul Menard', a boy he had been teaching since he was small had written something better than he'd ever accomplish.

What little doubt was left in him, disappeared as he growled at the screen and punched it. There was no turning back. And so, he took his things and left his house.

It took him half an hour to get to the boy's house. He knocked the door a couple of times and smirked at the boy that greeted him.

"Professor Fountain! I wasn't expecting you" he said, a little surprised by the visit.

The man smiled and stepped inside. "I had to get here as soon as I could, I mean, that book you wrote… it's something else."

The boy was drinking a cup of coffee and frowned at him. "You're sure? I thought it needed to be improved, a lot."

The man nodded. "Maybe a little, but you will always find something to smooth, that's why we publish."

"Maybe you, but I'm just a kid, won't publish anything any time soon" The boy put the cup on the table and motioned to his teacher. "Would you like cup coffee?"

The teacher shook his head. "No, it's Turkish poison."

"Lemon pie? It's homemade!"

"No, thanks"

The boy smiled, took a piece of the lemon pie and started walking to his room on the first floor. "So you made corrections?"

"I made a few notes, yes." Answered the man as he looked around, making sure that no one was near to witness what was about to happen.

The boy entered his room, a small place with a bed to his right and an old PC next to it. The door was wooden but had an old lock, the kind that it's often found in a fence door.

The boy sat on a chair in front the computer and smiled weakly at the man. "So, tell me the awful truth, it sucks, right?"

The professor smiled. "No, it doesn't. The are a couple of…" he stopped talking as he heard a train, he snarled with expectation. "It has a little too many references to Kafka"

"That was intentional" commented the boy as he took a bite from the pie.

"Yes, anyway… everyobody talks about Kafka, but nobody actually reads it."

Just as the train passed and the noise from it silenced everything else, the man took the gun out and pointed it at the boy. When the gun was at mere inches from the boy's head, Fountain shot once, killing him instantly.

As the body fell, the man put the gun on the boy's hand and then with great caution, started the process of formatting the disk drive. He then took a couple of steps back and took the small bomb-like device he had constructed. He ran out of the room and carefully closed the door. With the magnet he moved the lock and with a small punch the door was closed.

Fountain smirked to himself and said, "THAT, was intentional"

He ran to the backyard just in time for the mother to arrive. He smirked with satisfaction as he left the house and got into his car (which was parked a couple of blocks from there), only to drive it to the front of the house.

He got out of the car and walked to the door, and again, he knocked the door. This time, the mother of the boy greeted him.

"Professor! It's good to see you!" She smiled sweetly.

He nodded and said, "is Paul here? He wanted to see me for some reason"

The woman nodded. "He must be at his room, would you like some coffee?"

The man smiled. "No, it's Turkish poison"

Paul's mother was about to say something else, but the man silently pushed a button in his pocket and the small bomb in Paul's room exploded.

The woman turned at the sound and frowned. "That came from Paul's room, I wonder…" she ran and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

The teacher forced himself to stop smiling as he walked to the distressed mother. "Let me" he said as he tried to open it. After a few tries he decided to strike the door until the lock broke.

The woman's eyes widened at the sight of the corpse of her son. She threw herself at him and tried to revive him, not realizing that he had a hole in his head.

The man used this moment of distraction to take the remains of the bomb into his bag. He cautiously took all of the evidence and then proceeded to comfort the mother.

The police came a fifteen minutes later. The detective in charge of the investigation didn't think twice when he deemed it a suicide. But as he needed everything on the record, he put Jake Morgendorffer in charge instead. It's a boring case anyway, I bet the old loser will think that it's a murder of something, stupid man always ranting about his stupid father…

-------

And so, it was the "Take Our Daughters to Work" day when the Mistery Chick first proved her worth. Jake Morgendorffer's partner, one Japanese descendant named Bruce Hibiki was waiting in a local café while looking at some of the scene's photos. Jake came with Daria (Quinn, the younger sister, went to work with Helen) and ordered breakfast for the girl.

Bruce smiled at Daria and then handed Jake the photos he was watching moments before. He said, "you got the mother's statement, right?"

Jake nodded and replied, "yes, and also the boy's teacher, Professor Fountain, everything fits, it's a suicide."

Bruce grimaced. "Unless they both set it up, do any of them get anything out of the death of the kid?"

Jake growled at his partner and motioned to Daria, but anyway, he replied, "nothing, they're both clean."

Daria snatched the photos from her father's hand and her eyes widened. "A real murder!" She exclaimed.

Jake took the photos away from the girl before she said anything else. "No, it's a suicide, an awful thing you shouldn't have seen."

Daria blinked a couple of times. "Why not? It's not like I haven't seen dead people before."

Both officers looked confused, both replied at the same time with an "uh?"

Daria rolled her eyes. "TV corpses look like regular corpses, but that's definitely not a suicide." She said while pointing at the photos in Jake's hands.

Jake looked at the photos again, curious about what his daughter meant with a quick peek. "Why do you say that?"

He put the photos on the table and Daria pointed at one that showed the boy's desk. "The lemon pie" Daria explained, "it doesn't fit. If I'd ever kill myself, I wouldn't bother eating a lemon pie."

Bruce frowned. "It could have been something like, a last meal."

"He just took a bite" Daria countered.

Jake shook his head. "So, not a suicide you say?"

"Not a suicide" she repeated.

Jake grimaced at Bruce and said, "we should take another peek at the place, maybe we missed something."

Bruce nodded. "Maybe."

-------

The mother and the teacher were quite surprised when the two partners and the child visited them. Bruce explained that there were a couple of holes in the statements and needed more information, the mother complied and the teacher offered to guide Jake and Daria to Paul Menard's room.

The room, as expected, was quite a mess. Daria whistled at the sight of blood and started looking at all directions, quite excited to be in a room where someone had died the previous day.

The teacher frowned at Jake. "This isn't the place of a kid her age."

Jake nodded while sitting on a nearby chair. "Tell me, did you see anyone leave the house before you arrived?"

"No one" answered the man, eyeing Daria, who was examining the door's lock.

Jake nodded and took notes. "Just as I thought."

Fountain looked agitated. "Excuse me, but… Why are you here? This was a closed room murder, there's no way anyone could've left the room without Sarah or me knowing"

"The pie" explained Jake. "No one saw that detail, but Daria here noticed that the boy had only taken one bite from it. That seemed strange."

Fountain arched an eyebrow. "So you're here because of a kid playing detective?"

"Hey! This door could be locked from the outside!" Exclaimed Daria, who apparently wasn't paying attention to them.

"What?" asked Jake, raising his head.

"The lock, look, you could, from the outside, simply lock it, it's not difficult at all, I've read that you can do this."

"Sherlock Holmes?" Asked Jake.

She quickly corrected, "Ellery Queen." And continued talking, "But I think there were a couple of movies where the killer used this method to fake a closed room murder. A rookie could've done it."

The teacher's face darkened at the word 'rookie'. Hi smiled evilly at Daria. "So you like to read Ellery Queen?"

Daria nodded, somewhat annoyed at the tone of the voice from the teacher. "I read all of it"

"But I think that doesn't work on real life" said the teacher.

"It does!"

Jake frowned. "Daria, the mother and the teacher were here seconds after the shooting, even if the killer used a trick like that, there's no way to escape."

Daria thought of an answer to that, and found none. "Maybe… maybe the killer never left the room."

Fountain smiled. "You mean, he's still here?"

Daria raised her head. "I never said it was a he, did I?"

He grimaced a little. "Just assuming it was a he, then"

She nodded and looked up. "Well, in some movies the killer hides in the ceiling, but I doubt that'd work on real life, right?"

Both adults nodded.

Jake motioned to the space next to the door. "The killer could've hidden himself, or herself, next to the door. And escaped after the body was discovered."

Daria examined the section of wall next to the door and shook her head. "There's a mark from the doorknob."

The professor looked confused. "What does that mean?"

Jake shook his head. "That when you opened the door, it made a mark in the wall. So no one could possibly be hiding there."

Fountain nodded, and stated "so this wasn't a murder."

Daria looked around. "But the pie…"

"Is circumstantial evidence, nothing more!" exclaimed the man, getting more annoyed by the minute.

Jake frowned, not wanting to punch the man. "Still, what could possibly make someone kill the boy?"

Daria's head perked up. "A girlfriend looking for revenge?"

"No, they broke up three months ago, good terms, they're still friends." Explained her father.

Daria closed her eyes for a moment, then opened and exclaimed. "You were his Creative Writing professor in college, right?"

Fountain took a step back. "Right"

"So he wrote, was he any good?"

The man took a deep breath before answering, "he was very good, yes. My best student by far."

Daria started walking in circles. "So… someone could've killed him for a book."

Jake looked around. "A book?"

The teacher frowned. "But I don't recall him having any expensive first edition book of any kind."

Daria looked at him for a moment and then shook her head. "I don't mean that, I mean something he wrote."

Jake nodded, understanding and taking his notes he read. "The hard disk was formatted so there's that possibility, someone might have wanted to hide that evidence."

The teacher growled at the kid. "But he never wrote anything long, he only wrote essays and short stories, and he usually only showed them to me."

Daria smirked. "So, you're saying that you are our sole suspect."

The man's eyes widened at that. "What? I did not say such a thing!"

"So, he wasn't working on any book."

"Not to my knowledge."

"And you taught him Creative Writing."

"True."

"And he was your best student, by far."

"Also true" the man's patience was growing thin.

"And tell me, what was the title of the manuscript that he gave you?"

He answered instantly, "In the name of the father." Then he yelped and put his hands covering his mouth.

"Really?" mused the girl, looking at the blood in the floor.

"It was… an essay, yes, an essay."

The girl smirked, still looking at the blood. "What was this essay about?"

The teacher turned to look at Jake. "This is enough, I will not tolerate being accused and questioned like this! Control your daughter!"

But Daria didn't stop talking, "and tell me, if we followed you to your house, would we find in your computer an essay with the title 'In the name of the father' or maybe… a novel?"

The professor's face turned white. "Wha- What did you just say?"

Jake scowled. "I think you heard her."

Fountain looked at Jake, who was walking towards him and then he turned towards Daria. He howled and launched himself at her. He put his hands around her tiny neck and tried to strangulate her.

Daria 'eeped' and kicked in vain, she was rapidly losing conscience.

Jake acted as fast as he could and punched Fountain in the back of his head, knocking him out. The teacher's body fell and his shirt got dirty with the boy's blood.

Daria hugged her father and started crying in silence.

"You OK, Kiddo?"

"I, I… I think so."

At that very moment, Bruce entered the room, completely confused. "What in the world did you do, Morgendorffer?"

Jake looked up and smiled weakly. "My girl discovered the culprit."

Bruce looked at the unconscious body of the professor. "You mean, he did it?"

"He practically confessed, I think if we search his place we will find some pretty incriminating evidence."

Bruce handcuffed Fountain. "That was quick."

Daria nodded and took a step back from her father, she then put her hand under her baggy jacket and showed a walkman-like device. "And it was all recorded."

Jake blinked for a couple of seconds. "You… you knew?"

Daria smiled a little. "I suspected, after reading your notes, of course."

-------

The police found the manuscript of the novel in Fountain's computer, along with bullets for the same type of gun that had killed Paul, some small bombs that produced a sound loud enough to be confused with a shooting and a magnet.

Jake was given a promotion to detective and an important raise, but he acknowledged the arrest fully to Daria, and so the press was ecstatic about the concept of a ten year old solving a case like that. The Highland Herald dubbed her 'The Mistery Chick' and since then, every time she solves a case, the pet-name appears.


	2. Chapter 2

Characters from "Daria" belong to MTV.  
Concepts and situations from this chapter are from "Hermanos & Detectives" which belongs to Telefé.

The Mystery Chick

**Part 2 – Daria Morgendorffer and the Camp of Horrors.**

_"... and so, here at KPMB 513 would like to congratulate the one that uncovered the corruption behind the Uranium in the drinking water in the town of Highland, of course we mean the Mysteryyyyyy"_ the voice faded and then a robotic one took it's place_ "CHICK!" _The regular voice returned and started to say, _"that's right the real Nancy Drew figura-"_

Jake Morgendorffer turned the radio off. "GAH Damn it! Those news people will not give us a rest!"

Daria nodded from the backseat, not bothering to raise her head from the book she was reading. "I should sue them for that name, I don't look like a chick, do I?" As an afterthought she added, "and NANCY DREW? I have one thing to say to that."

"What?" asked Quinn.

"Gah! Damn it!"

"Daria!" Helen warned.

Daria simply smiled apologetic.

Helen frowned. "Anyway, I don't know what they were thinking, really."

"Mom, they are from Highland, Uranium in the dinking water, remember? They don't know anything" said Quinn smiling from her place.

Daria eyed her sister for a second and then gave a curt nod. "For once, sis, I agree with you."

"I would have preferred, I don't know, 'The Mystery Kiddo', that has a better ring to it, don't you think so, girls?" asked Jake as he turned around.

Daria smirked slightly. "Eyes on the road, daddy, eyes on the road"

Jake yelped and then took the steering wheel with both hands and focused on what was ahead. He seemed nervous. "Anyway, girls, I'm sure you will have fun at the camp."

Daria nodded. "I bet that's the same thing the Jews were told."

Helen scowled at her eldest daughter. "Will you please, stop talking like that?"

Daria didn't look amused. "How? Smartassy?"

Quinn laughed, but stopped when Helen glared at her.

"Just… try to make some friends, have a good time. Will you?"

Daria rolled her eyes. "I don't do friends"

Quinn jumped up and down. "I do! I have lots of friends!"

Daria scowled but kept reading her book. "No you don't, those are pets that look human. I could have that if I wanted, everyone wants to hang around with the Mystery Chick."

Helen seemed surprised. "They do?"

Daria raised her head, interested in what her mother might say. "Are you implying they shouldn't?"

"Oh! No, no! I mean…" Helen frowned and thought for a second what to say next, "you have a very… interesting personality."

"And we live in interesting times"

"True" said the mother, not catching the 'Chinese curse' reference.

"But what does that have anything to do with making friends? And why not back in Highland? It's not like we will ever see anyone from here ever again"

Jake turned again and smiled. "Actually, quite a few daughters and sons of police officers from Highland are going to be there."

Daria's face darkened. "So, this is your idea?"

"What? No! It was your mom's!" exclaimed the man with a goofy grin.

"Jake! Shut up and look where you're going, you're going to kill someone!"

Daria blinked. "And here I thought that giving him a gun was a good idea."

Jake slowed the car and then parked it. "No need to worry about the road anymore! We're here!" 

Daria looked outside and scowled at the happy-go-lucky look of most of the kids. "You did not deceive me, mon a mi. At most, you permitted me to deceive myself."

"What was that, dear?" Helen asked as she took a step out of the car.

Daria shook her head and answered, "nothing mother, a mere quote that I thought fitted the situation at hand."

As the family left the car, Daria noticed a luxury SUV. She scowled at the driver, it was her father's boss, and there was no way he'd be able to pay for a Range Rover. It was quite obvious that it had been paid with dirty money. She knew the man was corrupted to the bones, but hadn't been able to find incriminatory evidence. She shook her head, thinking that it was not the time to face the corruption around her and decided to take her mother's advice and try to enjoy herself a little.

"Chief!" Jake exclaimed, smiling.

The Chief waved at Jake and put a hand on his SUV, "quite a piece of machinery, eh? Morgendorffer?"

Jake whistled at the SUV. "That must've cost you a fortune!"

The man's face grimaced for a moment, and then he covered it with a quite fake happy face. "Not really! I won it!"

Jake's eyes widened. "You won it? Wow that was lucky!"

Helen frowned. "Hellooo! Chief O'Hara, long time no see."

The man nodded at Helen. "Yes, I just came to bring my kid"

One of the doors of the SUV opened and a girl had a look in her face that screamed 'I OWN EVERYTHING' appeared. She had a backpack almost exactly like Quinn's. And then Daria knew that the camp would be… interesting.

The adults herded the kids to the camp and talked among themselves, leaving a moment for the children to get to know each other.

Quinn smiled at the chief's daughter. "Hey! We got the same backpack!"

The girl looked at the youngest Morgendorffer for a moment as if she was some kind of bug. "Hmm. I can see where the untrained eye would think so. It's quite a skillful imitation."

Quinn shifted uncomfortable for a moment. "Um, I like your hair."

The girl smirked. "It is bouncy. What is your name? I'm Tracy O'Hara."

Quinn nodded and said, "I'm Quinn Morgendorffer."

Tracy raised an eyebrow at that and then looked at Daria and smiled with malice. "Oh, you're the Mystery Chick's non-popular sister."

Daria growled under her breath. "I assure you, she is quite popular on her own merits." It was not common for her to protect her sister, but a common enemy had arrived.

Tracy laughed, it was not a pleasant sound. "I will keep that in mind. Anyway, my daddy says that your father is an idiot that doesn't know how he got the rank of detective. He says that he couldn't find a needle in a haystack!"

Quinn frowned, somewhat confused. "But it's not easy to do that."

Daria rolled her eyes at Tracy. "I don't care what your father says about mine."

The girl snarled at the Morgendorffer sisters. "Oh, but he also talks about the Mystery Chick, he says you're a fraud, that you only make the police look bad."

Two other girls approached them, they didn't seem to hear what had just been said. "Hello! I'm Cindy, this is Tatiana!"

The O'Hara girl feigned a cute smile and exclaimed, "Oh! Finally some fashionably girls around here, come, let's be friends."

Quinn watched meekly as the girls left them. Daria simply narrowed her eyes in their general direction.

"I don't want to go to camp!" cried the redheaded girl.

Daria took the smaller girl's hand and guided her to the meeting place where all the adults and kids were already gathered. "Don't worry, there are lot's of kids here, everywhere there's bad people, but good people is equally frequent."_ I hope. _

Quinn sniffed but nodded, "if you say so."

-------  
After their parents left them, Daria and Quinn found themselves to be the center of attention. Many boys and girls of diverse ages surrounded them and asked questions about cases that Daria had allegedly solved. Daria thought that some of them asked questions that came from 'Sick, Sad World' or 'The X-Files' and obviously had nothing to do with her, but the kids seemed to believe that she was some kind of paranormal detective. A boy even suggested that the Uranium in the drinking water had given her telepathic powers and that was how she solved cases.

Daria's patience was growing thin. "Psych? You believe anything people tell you on TV, don't you?"

The boy in question retreated a little. "I just thought…" he stuttered.

Daria looked at every single kid that surrounded them and considered exploding in a sarcastic outburst where she would verbally attack every singly one of her fans. They would surely leave her alone then. But just when she was about to do that, she remembered her sister.

She groaned. She had never actually done anything nice for Quinn just because she could. She usually had ulterior motives. This time, she hadn't. "I'm feeling, a little tired, my sister here knows every one of my exploits, and perhaps her storytelling will amuse you?"

The horde then shifted focus to the younger Morgendorffer who was happy to comply and once again, was popular among the crowd. Daria knew that after a while the kids would get bored with the stories of the 'Mystery Chick' and would soon befriend Quinn for who she was. A terribly cute, somewhat naïve, and good-natured girl that everyone liked.

Daria yawned and walked to her bed. She hoped no one would bother her.

"Hey, that was cool!" exclaimed the girl in the bed above hers. Daria opened an eye and watched a girl a little bigger than her smile at her.

Daria considered not talking to this girl, but sighed as the girl didn't stop smiling. "What are you talking about?"

"How you helped your sister, not every sister would do that, but you're a good sister?"

Daria's eyes widened. "You have the most complex vocabulary I've ever faced."

The girl blushed. "Really? Well, I read from time to time. My name is Amelia, what's yours?"

Daria rolled here eyes. "If you know that Quinn is my sister, surely you know that I'm Daria."

The girl looked at Daria almost as if she had grown a second head. "No, I just assumed. Daria you said? I think I heard the name before."

Daria massaged her eyes. She would not be able to take a nap anytime soon. "You may know me by the stupid nickname that the press has given me, The Mystery Chick."

The girl looked freighted for a moment. "Oh! You think it's a stupid name? I thought it was… kinda cool!"

Daria looked more annoyed by the minute. "Yes, cool, awesome, whatever." It was going to be a long stay at the Grizzly Camp.

She couldn't get rid of Amelia for the remainder of the day and by night she was almost to her boiling point. It was a fortune that one of the instructors was actually good at storytelling, he related an urban legend from the area.

He talked about the wailing spirit of the lonely foreigner. According to the legend, some thirty something years ago, in winter, something terrible happened. The foreigner arrived to a local hotel and for some reason investigated around town, as if looking for something. Some said that he had a treasure map and he was looking for some old Spanish gold or something like that. But suddenly, one morning, he took his stuff and left the hotel towards the swamp, and no one ever saw him again. Some tourist found his stuff near the river, but there was no clue about what had happened to him. The owner of the Hotel once commented that the man had not eating anything the day before it happened, almost as if he knew that he was going to die. The local police tried to solve the mystery, but it proved to be unsolvable to them. The press tried their theories, only to find nothing of interest. But the curious thing was that no one had asked for that man. No friend. No relative. Not even the consulate. It's been said that, every full moon, the wailing spirit of the lonely foreigner travels this Earth and tries to get revenge.

Daria didn't think the story was true. But she knew that it was not all fiction, as she vaguely remembered that 'Sick, Sad World' covered the story about the foreigner and painted it with strange paranormal stuff. Obviously the part where the spirit of the man tried to get revenge was false. But Daria knew that every single story in 'Sick, Sad World' had some basis on a true story. 

-------

On the next morning she was able to slip away from Amelia for a while before breakfast. Only to find herself close to Tracy and her group of 'friends'.

When Quinn approached her she murmured, "I will quote someone that I wish I will never dare quote again, 'Warning: Assholes are closer than they appear'"

Quinn looked around and spotted the girls. "It's all right, their lose not mine."

Daria nodded. "Good for you."

Quinn yawned. "I think there's going to be an expedition of some kind, they are plotting to break us, aren't they?"

Daria looked at Quinn for a moment, trying to understand what she meant. "Break us? To what? Talk? Reveal the position of our troops?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "No, I mean, with all this excursive… forget it."

"Forget what?"

Before Quinn could retort, the instructors called for them. They were forming groups apparently at random.

Amelia smiled at the Morgendorffer girls and ran to them. "Hey! We're on the same team!" She carried a piece of paper which Daria quickly snatched from her.

The auburn haired girl grimaced. "Oh great, Tracy O'Neil is also in our group."

Amelia frowned. "Is that the girl that treated you two badly?"

Daria raised her head and felt a little guilty towards Amelia. Why was she still hanging out with her if she was being treated like something less than a friend? Daria shook her head and continued reading. "We have to collect wood for a fire. Dry wood."

Quinn looked around and exclaimed, "but it rained! What, do they like, expect us to buy it or something?"

Daria faced her sister for a second and was about to say something sarcastic, the thought perished and instead she said, "the closest town is a couple miles away, and I think it would be better to just buy it."

Amelia bighted. "Hey! That town is the one from that Foreigner Ghost, right?"

Daria grimaced. She could've yelled at Amelia to bug off, but she too was interested in solving that particular mystery. But the mere idea of actually having to WALK two miles seemed draining.

-------

Tracy reluctantly joined the group in the supposed quest to find wood. She also had the good head to not openly insult the Morgendorffer girls, as it would be a bad idea to go one on three. So she followed the other girls without as much as saying a word.

That is, until she noticed that Daria wasn't even looking for wood. "Like, Mystery Chick, you know that you have to, like, get wood for the fire?"

Amelia tried her best to sound friendly, "everything is wet, we're going to the town and buy the wood."

Tracy growled. "This is, like, a revenge, for putting you in your place, right?" she asked while looking directly at Daria's back.

Daria didn't bother to answer, instead she was examining the terrain. She noticed that the river was close. "They say that his things were next to the river, right?"

Amelia nodded. Quinn didn't look amused. Tracy merely grunted.

Daria answered her own question, "right, so maybe his body is around here. But still, we should get to the local library to get some information from newspapers."

"Information on what? Mystery Chick, like, you are stupid or something? I'm the goddamn daughter of your stupid father's boss. So, you have to do everything I tell you"

Daria suddenly stopped walking and turned around on her heels. She took off her glasses and glared at the fashionable girl. "Tell me again what you just said."

Tracy swallowed. "I said… never mind."

Daria nodded and put her glasses again. "That's what I thought. Now, we're going to that damn library, get information on the dates we need, and see if the case of the missing foreigner is true or not."

They arrived to the town almost an hour later. The local library was small but it had everything Daria needed to get useful information. The most important thing for her at that moment was that the newspapers stories had more or less confirmed the urban legend.

Daria furrowed her brows and said, "whether you can observe a thing or not depends on the theory which you use. It is the theory which decides what can be observed."

"What detective said that?" Quinn asked after a moment of silence.

"Not a detective, Albert Einstein."

"Like, you're a real geek, did anyone ever tell you that?" Tracy muttered from a corner, Daria didn't reply.

Amelia smiled at Daria and looked at the newspaper she was reading. "Is there anything important?"

"At the time of the crime, there was a flood North from here. So the river was probably too dangerous." She took a piece of blank paper and started drawing a map.

Tracy raised an eyebrow. "You're really trying to find that treasure?"

"No treasure here, I think." Daria answered quietly.

Quinn thought for a moment and then remembered something, "they say he went to a swamp"

Daria nodded. "So that leaves out the South and the East too. What does that leaves us with?"

"The West"

Tracy smiled. "Like, great deductions an' everything, but saying 'West' will not solve anything."

Daria nodded. "That's why I'm using much more information than just 'West', for example, I know that the day before he disappear was the Day of Atonement, Yom Kipur."

"Is that a Jewish thing?"

Daria glared at the girl. "Yes, and according to the hotel owner, he didn't eat anything that day. So, he was Jewish. It fits. According to this, his name was Felix Epstein."

Quinn frowned a little. "What does that have anything to do with this?"

Daria shook her head and stood up. "Let's leave."

Amelia seemed to enjoy doing everything she was told to. "Hey! So, you know where the treasure is?"

Daria's face darkened. "There's no treasure."

-------

They went to the West. The forest seemed a little rougher there than in the area where the Grizzly camp was located. They found a couple of cabins there, they faked being on a school project and asked for any information that could help them, but no one seemed to know anything.

"Like, Mystery Chick or whatever, are you sure that stupid foreigner went west?"

"Definitely, and I also know that he died close, you may even be standing on his dead body right now."

The bossy girl shrieked and looked down. She growled at the auburn haired girl.

Daria smirked. "Made you look."

Quinn laughed softly while Amelia merely smiled and shook her head. Tracy was furious.

Daria pointed at a nearby cabin. "That one looks old, It has been here for at least fifty years. I bet the owner knows something."

But, when they knocked the door, they were greeted by a grim old man that didn't look pleased at the sight of four young girls.

"Yes?" He asked in a German accent.

Daria frowned. "We have a school project and are looking for information regarding the vanishing of a Jewish man in the seventies, he went by the name of Felix Epstein. Do you know anything about that?"

The man shuddered and then shook his head. "Sorry, I know what you're looking for, but I came later."

Daria narrowed her eyes a little. "Later? How much later?"

"Ah! I don't remember girl, go away!" He barked and closed the door with a slam.

Daria however, was smiling like a Cheshire cat. "Oh, this is big."

Quinn didn't look as pleased. "Daaa-ria, it's freezing, why don't we go back?"

Daria turned and whispered, "you go back, I need to know what this man is up to."

Amelia nodded. "Don't worry, we will help you."

"Talk for yourself, loser, I'm out of here."

Amelia smirked at Tracy. "And you know how to do that by yourself?"

Daria shook her head. "Leave, I will do this on my own." And after saying that, she walked to the other end of the cabin. She peeked from a window and smiled as she noticed that it was half open so she could silently break in.

She looked around. It seemed like a normal enough house, if a bit old in its style. Quinn would've probably hated the place.

The old man was nowhere in sight. She noticed a box of matches and took it, there was only one match there. She walked past a bookcase and stopped herself. She turned her head and read the titles of the books. They were all in German and most were pre-WWII. Her eyes widened as she took a copy of Mein Kampf and opened it. It was a first edition. She quickly put it back on the bookcase and started sweating. Her brain was registering every bit of information in the house and everything pointed to her initial fears.

The man that had died and dubbed the 'Lonely foreigner' was a spy, a Nazi Hunter. That's why no one had come for him, it was a secret.

"Crap" she muttered as she realized that she was trying to chew much more than she could shallow. She took a look at her watch. It was way too late to call for back-up, but if Quinn and the others had already left, maybe help would arrive in a couple of hours.

That, of course, she hadn't.

-------

She took a deep breath and frowned at the sight of a crow bar. She lifted it with both hands and started walking back to the window.

That's when she heard the voice with the German accent. "I thought I told you to go away, girl"

Daria with a swift motion turned around and raised the crowbar. "Who are you really?"

The man seemed amused at her antics. "What's it to you?"

Daria gave him a cold stare. "My name is Daria Morgendorffer. It is my business to know what other people don't know."

The man seemed to think for a moment, and then nodded. "I heard of you, you're that… Mystery Chick."

"I gave you my name, is only fair that you give me yours."

"Very well, if you insist, my true name is Otto Adolf Steinbrinck."

Daria smirked. "And you were a high ranking Nazi. You were one of the men that had the task of facilitating and managing the logistics of mass deportation to ghettos and extermination camps."

The man's eyes widened. "You really did your homework, didn't you?"

Daria was breathing slowly. "If I did, I'd have a shotgun, not a crowbar."

The man was smiling. "And if you did, you would have made sure that your little friends left when you told them to"

Daria took a step back. That man was something she never met before. She had met evils in the two years she had started solving murder investigations, it came with the territory. But this man's face. This man's eyes… it was different.

This man was pure evil.

And he claimed to have captured her sister and the other two.

She let go of the crow bar.

-------

The man, Otto, put her in a basement where the other girls were held prisoner. Daria struggled when she saw Quinn but the man kicked her and knocked her unconscious.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that Quinn was holding her head on her lap. "What's the situation?"

Tracy kicked Daria on the back. "The situation is that a psycho is going to kill us all and it's your fault!"

Amelia tackled Tracy. "Stupid! She's our only chance of survival!"

"Like hell she is!"

Daria slowly stood up and examined her surroundings, and said "that man is probably digging our graves."

Everyone stood silent as she did whatever she could. There were several bottles of fuel, probably to energize the house's electricity. A Nazi flag in the background, a small window not big enough for any of them and little else.

She trembled and touched her eyes. She had lost her glasses. She could barely see anything. "This is bad. Worse than bad. I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!"

Tracy nodded. "Yes, but these two thought you were being stupid. Guess what? They also were!"

The door of the basement opened. The man threw some ropes at them. "Tie each other, the smart girl stays behind."

Tracy glared at Daria.

-------

Daria thought of the time, it was past midnight. Her father and probably half of the town's police was looking for them. They would probably go to the library sooner or later and know where she planned to go. But… was it too late? Would the cavalry only save four corpses?

She shook her head and watched as the man took Amelia away. An idea started working inside of her head. How could she not be able to see it before? If she had… 

Amelia was probably already dead. She had to save her sister. She looked at Tracy and nodded to herself. She didn't care about her, but she wouldn't just leave her to die if she could help it.

So, Daria took one of the bottles. "Come on, help me with this. We're going to blow him up."

But at that very same moment, she heard the voice of her father. She could barely hear it, just enough to know that he was looking for fuel for some reason. 

He probably needed to look for them. A generator perhaps? Or he simply needed it for his car. Whatever the reason, Daria for the first time ever, actually believed in God.

She smiled weakly and wiped blood from her mouth. "Heh, Deux ex Machina." She took a deep breath and then screamed like never before. Quinn soon joined her in her distress call and after realizing what was going on, Tracy screamed too.

Daria frowned as she noticed that her dad wasn't coming for the rescue. She looked at the bottle closer to the door and nodded to herself. She unfolded a small knife and made a hole in the bottle.

Moments later the Otto came back. He snarled at us. "You were screaming for help, weren't you? Well, that stupid man didn't hear you. I will give him his stupid fuel and then you three are going to join your friend in the grave. Being buried alive must be a awful way to go, don't you agree?

He took a few steps towards them and with haste took the bottle that Daria had just pierced.  
Daria put a hand in her pocket and then, her face turned white. ". I lost the stupid box. Quick! Look for that matchbox! We have to blow him up!"

Both girls started looking in the dark floor in vain. It seemed impossible to find such a tiny thing in so little time.

Daria groaned. She was starting to hate failing.

-------

And then, the old man came back. "Come on, you pretty redhead, you're next."

Quinn yelped in surprise. Her gaze fixed at a spot a few inches behind the man.

Daria smirked weakly as she too noticed the matchbox. She openly laughed. Faking insanity was the only card she had left. She pointed at the old man and quoted, "If freedom is short of weapons, we must compensate with willpower."

Otto Steinbrinck stopped for a moment, not noticing Quinn picking up the matchbox and quietly throwing it to Daria. "Quoting the Führer won't protect you or your little friends."

Daria's face glowed with anticipation. "Au contraire, I believe the distraction was good enough for us to do a most daring feat." And so, she lighted the single match in her left hand and released it.

The old man's eyes widened as he noticed the fuel in the floor. "Wha-?" He couldn't finish whatever he was about to say. Fire moved at an alarming speed on the floor.

He knew then that he had failed. He had been defeated by kids. "Affenschwanz! Scheisse!"

Daria took Quinn down and protected her from harm with her body and muttered, "Tell me I'm crazy."

As they heard an explosion outside, Quinn replied yelling, "DARIA, YOU'RE CRAZY!"

-------

Mere moments later, they father, Bruce and the Chief came to the house. There was a short fight but the old man was easily defeated by the three much younger men.

Jake explained to Daria that the SUV had somehow exploded and they had barely gotten away. The three girls looked at each other frightened, Daria had almost killed their fathers.

Amelia was found on a grave that looked to have been dug in haste. She was ecstatic when they got her out of there.

The old man growled at the children as he was taken away by the local police. "It's all your fault, you meddling kids!"

Daria couldn't resist, and said in a deadpan, "and our stupid dog, don't forget the dog."

Quinn's brow furrowed. "Dog? We don't have any dog."

Daria smiled for a mere second, happy to be able to make a joke after what had almost happened. "Don't mind me."


End file.
